by Jasper Tripp
Walter also looks to the ships that hang in the night sky behind them. He’s picking up what Dibs is putting down. King Cody’s ships now seem to be moving toward them, getting closer. Dibs knows they are coming for Kate. Knows King Cody would love to finish him off as a bonus. Dibs would love to put a foot up his old friend’s ass as well.
Walter nods. “I can.”
“Can your hog tag those pricks from here?”
Walter thinks. Does some finger math. “It can. Fairly certain. If they keep moving this way, it should.”
“The theory is they want Kate. They won’t open up that laser pop-gun of theirs while she’s with us. Won’t risk hurting her.”
Walter nods, biting his lip while processing.
“Willing to give it a swing?” Dibs asks.
“With extreme prejudice.”
“Then go, Officer Walter. Do some damage.”
Walter has never smiled bigger in his life. He slips from the pack, doing his best to hide behind the others. Staying low as a man his size can, he moves toward what’s left of the secret entrance they crashed the Cougar into early in the evening before the battle at the compound began. Before his home turned into a war zone.
A lifetime ago.
Dibs turns between Kate and the ships as they get closer. For a flash of a second, he tries to understand how Louis Cody got mixed up with an alien race. What the hell happened to Cody? Anything was possible. The man was into any number of horrible, strange varieties of shit. But Dibs doesn’t have time to process. Perhaps he’ll ask King Cody if he gets the chance.
Dibs thinks of a better question. The only question that matters right now.
“Kate.” Dibs swallows hard, not wanting to ask, but has to. “If we kill them. If we kill King Cody and the wives… will you turn back?”
Kate breathes in and out. Dibs can see her teeth grind. The veins pop in her forehead. She’s fighting herself to answer his question.
“Tell me, Kate.”
She holds her neck. Her body shakes hard.
“Tell me how to get you back.”
Kate locks eyes with Dibs. A silent moment shared between them. A deep sadness lurks behind her eyes. Dibs can see it. He can feel it from her.
“Is it them?” Dibs points back to the ships. “If we take care of them, if we take them out, do you come back? Please tell—"
Kate releases a primal scream. An inhuman wail, part metallic, part angry child. All alien. Mara and the twins cover their ears. Dibs turns, looking back toward the ships. They’re picking up speed.
“Kate!”
Kate screams louder, her eyes wild and wide. Her fingers dig into the ground pulling up fistfuls of grass and dirt.
“Kate! We’re your friends” Stella says.
“We’re here,” Mara yells. “We’re here to help you.”
Kate’s roar cuts through the night, louder and stronger.
Mara and Stella watch on with anger-tears forming. Rage amping up higher and higher by the second. They spin, watching the ships headed their way. Closer and closer the ships charge. Mara and Stella ready their guns. Break time is over. Time to go back to work. The twins vibrate with excitement off the possibilities to come.
“Last time,” Dibs yells, stepping closer, making sure he’s heard. “If we kill those motherfuckers will Kate come back to us?”
Kate flails back and forth fighting with every part of her being. She slaps her hands down to the earth fighting to find stable ground. Firing up from the grass and dirt, she stands straight and tall. Red tears stream down her face. Her inhuman, alien wail changes, slowly shifting to her real voice. Kate’s true voice cuts through.
“Yes,” Kate screams as her body fights her. Trembling uncontrollably, she calls out again with every ounce of strength she can muster. “Yes!”
Dibs looks to Stella and Mara. Their eyes bounce. Smiles crack.
“Yes.” Kate deflates. “Kill the wives first.”
Eyes flare. Faces light up. They haven’t been this happy since… never.
“Done.” Dibs turns back to the ships. Finally something is working in their favor.
Kate dives on his back, her mouth lunging toward the back of his neck.
“Damn, baby.” Dibs spins his body round and round trying to keep her off balance.
Stella kicks her free again with a hard foot to the ribs. Kate lands, rolls to a stop, then bounces up to her feet landing in a perfect fighting stance. Stella readies her shotgun.
“Stella,” Dibs says, “you mind putting a barrel on her head?”
Kate looks to him as if her feelings are hurt. A where’s the trust look as Stella puts the shotgun barrel between her eyes. Pressing ever so gently, Stella mouths the word sorry.
“Can’t have you turning on us,” Dibs says. “I love you, Kate, but I can’t have that.”
Kate and Stella both give Dibs a look off the I love you.
“Shit.” Dibs shrinks.
“Enough bullshit,” Mara yells. “Look.”
The ships are almost on top of them. King Cody and what’s left of his army will be all over the Stagstone Seven soon enough. They survived the last round. Wasn’t easy, but they are still breathing. This time their fortress of solitude is gone, a smoldering pile of rubble. They are completely exposed, out in the open, with nowhere to take cover. No great place to hide during a massacre, Dibs heard someone say once. Was it Cody who said that to him? Dammit. Dibs shakes loose from his rambling thoughts. This is it. It’s on, here and now. Only a matter of seconds.
Mara and Dibs ready their guns.
Stella keeps Kate at bay with a shotgun held tight between her eyes.
The twins grip their weapons in their crazy-ass little hands.
Chapter Forty-One
An engine roars.
Everyone spins around.
The Cougar tears through the rocks and rubble of the fallen compound. Zeppelin blares out from the windows, its driving drums pounding a rock ‘n’ roll war chat that assassinates the peaceful night air.
Dibs shakes his head. “Not exactly quiet-like. Not at all what I said.”
Stella watches, marveling at her man tearing through their land like a cowboy from hell. Her Walter. Her love swells up to the surface as she watches the Cougar drive headlong toward the alien ships speeding their way.
Kate takes advantage of Stella’s distraction. She slaps the shotgun barrel away from her forehead then wraps her hands around Stella’s throat. Both slam down to the ground in a pile of flailing arms, elbows and profanity.
Mara, Dibs and the twins all watch the Cougar rip up slabs of earth as it slides to a stop in the middle of the family land. They stare in anticipation of the fight to come. All completely unaware of the fight between Kate and Stella going on behind them.
The ships cross the tree line. The bottoms of the circular alien vessels glow brighter and brighter as they get closer and closer. Shades of red and orange create a glowing blanket of color across the war-torn battlefield.
Kates snaps her jaws at Stella. Her teeth graze the flesh but come up empty. Stella palms Kate’s face hard, shoving her off her body. Kate falls back but finds her footing fast, launching back at Stella once again.
A blast of fire and smoke belches from the Cougar’s Big Hog cannon.
The blast tags the smaller of the two ships, jolting it to the left as if slapped by the Gods. Walter unleashes another. The smaller ship dips as the firestorm unleashed by the Hog bursts and booms dead center on the unwanted flying object.
“Keep on ‘em, Daddy,” Mara yells, gripping her assault rifle tight.
Stella punches Kate in the face. Kate slaps the shit out of Stella. Spit flies.
The small ship is falling. Its altitude is dropping lower and lower, seconds away from crash landing into the ground. The larger of the two keeps coming at them.
“Open up on that big bastard,” Dibs yells out to Walter, hoping he can hear him.
The Hog pivots, turning slightly
toward the larger ship.
Stella worms around to get Kate in a choke hold. Kate gags and snaps, clawing at Stella’s arm. Stella’s mind churns, searching for what to do with this problem. This Kate problem. She considers snapping her neck, but decides to forgive and forget. Kate is still Stagstone Seven, after all. Stella glances behind her. Studies what’s left of her home. The rubble that was her and Walter’s compound. She shows a grimace, a grind of teeth, as an idea forms behind her hard eyes. Blood trickles down from Stella’s battered nose. She starts to drag Kate kicking and screaming toward the remains of the compound.
The Hog blasts away at the big bastard ship, forcing it to pause its driving charge toward them. Behind it, the smaller ship plunges into the ground like a freight train was dropped from the sky. Dirt and grass explode into the air upon impact as if a bomb went off in an open field. Fire rips tall, launching up into the night.
Mara, Dibs and the twins raise their weapons in a collective moment of triumph.
Out from the wreckage of the smaller ship, out from the heap of smoldering metal, pour Grey Ones. Lots of them. Storming free like ants from a pissed off mound. A beam of light shines down from the big bastard ship lighting up the ground below in a bloodred glow. One by one Grey Ones float down toward the ground joining the others from the crashed ship. The numbers coming down in the bloodred beam grow, escalating into a steady stream of Grey Ones falling down one after the other.
Mara, Dibs and the twins lower their weapons.
A collective oh shit moment.
Chapter Forty-Two
“Keep blasting,” Dibs yells out to Walter, straining to be heard.
The Hog wails on the big bastard ship as the Grey Ones land, dropping down to join the fight. Punishing fire is being laid down by Walter and his Hog. It’s starting to take its toll on the large ship. Walter’s screams of rage and joy can be faintly heard just above the booming blasts.
“Look!” Mara screams, pointing toward the wreckage of the smaller ship.
She readies her assault rifle, pressing the night scope to her eye. Dibs squints hard to see.
There’s a scrum of Grey Ones racing toward them, but mixed among them is one taller than the rest. One of the wives leaps out from the pack. Mara takes a deep breath. Steadies her weapon. Then puts two into the wife’s head without hesitation.
Mara exhales.
The wife’s head bursts apart like a melon slammed by a sledgehammer. Its body teeters then wilts down to the grass. Dibs throws Mara a thumbs-up coupled with a fuck yeah fist pump. Even the twins stare, impressed, with eyes wide. Mara cocks her head, runs her tongue over her teeth knowing she’s the shit.
The big bastard ship shakes and jolts. Cracks form. The ship is splitting up, falling in fiery chunks and pieces. Dibs appreciates the progress, loves the enthusiasm, but he knows the occupants of that ship are almost all on the ground. They will be in a massive ground battle in seconds. A fight they might not walk away from this time.
But there’s someone he’s waiting for. One big someone.
King Cody.
“Come on down, asshole,” Dibs mutters, gripping his gun tight. “Your buddy is here.”
The big bastard breaks up into a mess. Hunks of metal and fire tumble down from the dark night landing, sticking into the ground. The ship’s destruction light ups like an oddly placed sun among the starry night. The Grey Ones scatter and rampage toward Dibs and Company.
Dibs keeps his eyes peeled. Searching. Hunting the waves of Grey Ones. Then a flash of something. A brief look at a face that might be him. Hard to tell. The chaos is disorienting. Dark provides cover to many of them. Dibs keeps on it. Scanning. Moving from face to face. Then, there’s no mistake.
At the back.
Standing tall like he owns the planet.
A statue of confidence among the chaos.
King Cody walks among his tribe with his cold stare dead on Dibs.
Mara opens up the on the Grey Ones cutting them to shreds. Still, they keep coming. Walter slides out from the Cougar, blasting away at the lines of charging Grey Ones. The twins ready their weapons with knives clenched between their teeth like angry little savages.
“Come on,” Walter calls out, pointing back toward the Cougar. “Get in. It’s our only shot.” He looks around, panic creeping in. “Where’s Stella?”
Dibs spins around. “Where’s Kate?” he says.
Walter and Dibs share eyes. They look to the Grey Ones rumbling hard their way. There’s no time. They are completely outnumbered. They will be overrun by the Grey Ones in no time. Dibs’s head spins. The weight of it all crushing down on him. If they don’t hold the line here, if King Cody and his wives, his tribe, make it out of Stagstone, then the escalation will be too great. The numbers will grow as they spread town to town. City to city. America will fall. Then, eventually, the planet will be lost.
Mara screams and unloads. Walter does the same. Grey Ones spin and drop left and right. But Dibs can see it’s only a matter of time. About twenty yards to the right, Dibs spots the last two remaining wives.
He looks to the twins. Tiny balls of crazy itching to get into the fight.
An idea forms.
Dibs gets down low between the twins. He places a hand on their shoulders and talks as slowly and directly as he knows how. Ideally, this would come from Walter or Stella, but that’s not an option. He points toward the wives as he speaks. He pauses, asks if they understand.
The twins smile huge, nodding like bobble dolls.
The twins run hard toward the two remaining wives. One with an axe. The other with a sword. Both have a knife between their teeth. They race around and between the Grey Ones. Small zips of insanity, too fast and small for the Grey Ones to get ahold of. Too agile and quick to get a clean bite of.
“Go, little fellas,” Dibs says. “Go do crazy.”
Walter and Mara don’t notice. They are too engaged in the battle of their lives to see what the twins are up to.
Dibs begins to pick off Grey Ones that get within a few feet of the twins. He keeps one eye on King Cody, who is slowly but surely making his way toward them. King Cody’s line of sight never seems to leave Dibs. This has to work, Dibs thinks.
The twins reach the wives.
They launch themselves up into the air, one landing on each of the wives’ backs.
Dibs smiles. “Come on.”
Walter and Mara now take notice. Dibs puts a hand out to them, letting them know it’s going to be okay… he thinks.
The twins twist and turn, working their way to the wives’ shoulders. Moving like psychotic squirrels up a tree. The wives spin and swipe their hands at the tiny terrors but can’t get at them. The twins snatch the knives from their teeth, holding the blades on the wives’ necks. The wives stop, feeling the steel press against their skin. The twins are ready to slice. They look to Dibs.
Waiting.
Dibs gives a thumbs-up.
The wave of Grey Ones is not far from crashing into Dibs, Walter and Mara.
“Cody!” Dibs screams with all he has, pointing toward the wives held a knifepoint by the twins. “They will cut their throats on my word.”
King Cody stops.
“I swear to God and all that is holy in this world,” Dibs barks while placing his fingers together. “I snap my fingers and those last wives of yours start bleeding. A lot.”
King Cody claps his hands together hard. A thunder of a clap booms, rolling and echoing into the night. The Grey Ones come to a complete stop. Stand completely still only a foot away from Dibs, Walter and Mara. Mara winces as the awful breath of a turned truck driver enters her nostrils.
“What do you want, Chief Dibs?” King Cody calls out.
The Grey Ones part, making a path for King Cody to walk through.
“Just talk a little.” Dibs starts to walk toward King Cody, passing through the opening between the Grey Ones. “You and me. We need to chat.”
King Cody shrugs and waves him on.
<
br /> The Grey Ones seethe watching Dibs walk past them on his way to King Cody. Deep breaths suck in and out. Dibs can almost hear their teeth grind and their guts churn off the mere sight of him. He pays them no mind as he marches toward the object of his own hate.
He thinks of New York.
He thinks of Stagstone.
He can’t believe that the two have merged into one lump of shit named Louis Cody.
King Cody gives a wave. Dibs gives him the finger. They stand face-to-face only a few feet apart. Dibs knows this is not the Louis Cody he knew in New York. Not completely, at least. The bad cop who tried to kill him. The bad cop Dibs considered a friend at one time. Dibs looks into his eyes, the eyes of this Creepy Jesus, and he can almost see something familiar inside. He thinks of Kate and how she’s still Kate but fighting off the alien infection with all she has.
“You’re in there aren’t you?” Dibs says. “You still there, Louis?”
“Little bit.” King Cody nods, then shakes his head as if disgusted with himself. “I’m learning you can’t shake the disease. The residue left by you people doesn’t come off. Not entirely.”
“You started in New York,” Dibs says.
“I did.”
“You found Louis Cody.”
“I did.”
“Why him?”
“He was in a position of power. Had access to a lot of things that pleased me. Attractive things. And perhaps more importantly…” King Cody clucks his tongue. “Bad things attract other bad things.”
“You didn’t count on him wanting to kill me so bad.”
“I didn’t.”
“He was coming after me anyway. Wasn’t he?” Dibs works through it as he talks. “He couldn’t have me alive. I know too much about what he was doing. Everything he’s done. He must have gotten a lead that I was here—”
“All true,” King Cody breaks in. “There were other factors. His burning desire to see you die notwithstanding, New York was too much to take on at that early stage. It became clear I needed to start small and grow. You see, that’s how I do things. I’m the small beginning to the end you don’t see coming.”